Extended Practice: Characters

Since my animated series is not very character orientated, it is mainly centring around the situations within driving conditions and rules of the road, in the beginning I was very hesitant about what characters I wanted. I knew that they would be 2D and animated both in After Effects and Photoshop, but I still didn't know where to begin.

I started however with pencil and then fine liner, until finally adding colour with pencil crayons. I wanted my characters to be very rounded and family friendly, but also colourful so that they would peak interest and not want audiences to avoid them. I decided to draw four characters for a 'family', so that I can reuse them in the different scenarios and series. That way, there will still be some familiarity within them.

I then went into Photoshop to draw them digitally, which is my favourite way to draw characters and I am much happier with them. I think that I will refine them more before I animate them as I think that they could look more inviting and could do with more colour variation, but I am happy to put this design progress into my artbook and present them at the exhibition. I have also made each component (arm, leg, eyes, etc) on a different layer for easy access to rig in After Effects.

Extended Practice: Beer Run

'Beer Run' is another very popular advert on Youtube, with over 7 million views. Again, the topic is of drink driving, but after seeing that drink driving is the main cause of accidents everyday, no wonder there are many adverts on the topic.

This animation follows two characters who have been drinking. One decided to drive home even though they are very intoxicated (implied by the wobbly walking and slurred voice). When they get into the car and begin to drive, they speed so much that they run into everyone and everything, knocking stuff over and crashing into buildings. This is a comedy animation, so makes light of drink driving which can be both good and bad. It can be good because though it's funny, it is also memorable and doesn't put you off watching it, but it can also be bad because you forget that it is about such a serious and dangerous topic, so it is treading a fine line.

I think that I have learnt from this animation that I don't want my animations to be THAT funny, if even at all because it might take away from the message of the story. I want people to take my adverts seriously which might be hard to do if I use humour to conceal it. I did like that the animation was done in 2D digital animation as it is appealing to young internet users who are so digital orientated, and I like that it had a story instead of being dry and boring. 

Extended Practice: Road Safety Research

Before planning my animations, I wanted to do some thorough research on my topics and find out as much as possible in order to make the content reliable and truthful.

http://think.direct.gov.uk/

I began by typing in 'road safety' into Google, and the first website to come up was  'Think! Road Safety'. This is the most famous campaign for promoting road safety to pedestrians, drivers and children as I studied in COP3. I checked out several of their campaigns, including drink driving and speeding which I found to be very informative. They told me the consequences of each one, the repercussions in terms of how many points you can get on your license as well as what to do if you are ever in those situations. However there were no helpful videos that were up to date or animation which I would have liked to watch therefore I think there is a gap in the market for my project! 

http://www.rospa.com/road-safety/

I then clicked on the second link which took me to 'The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents' which again was very helpful. This company offer courses in road safety so that you are proactive in the topic and can help people who have suffered from road accidents, raising money and awareness. The website is very professional looking, and again, could perhaps do with some animation to make it more interactive and get people listening to the content.

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/road-safety

I then obviously visited the Government website which offered several articles and helpful leaflets on the different dangers on the road and their implications on the public. I trust this website a lot as I used it for my theory test, but I think I am going to combine this as well as my own knowledge to help inform me of my adverts. I feel like I am very aware of the rules of the road as I have been driving for almost two years and have experienced many mishaps and heard many stories from family and friends. I will use them to drive my narratives.

I then did a quick search into Google of what was the most common cause of accidents and found that it was drink driving. I typed 'drink driving' into the news part of Google and was shocked to find that there are over four stories DAILY on accidents caused by drink driving! Therefore this is something I am defintely going to highlight and focus on as people seem to not see the consequences properly! Overall, I feel very informed on my topic of choice especially as I have firsthand experience in road safety. I am looking forward to exploring the ideas through animation and hopefully beginning to contact companies who would like to have more advertising on the subject.

Extended Practice: Statement of Intent

Today I presented my Statement of Intent for Extended Practice which I was really nervous for as I didn't know how people would take my project idea and concept art. Also the presentation had to be ten minutes long which is the longest presentation I have ever done so I wanted it to be interesting and exciting and not bore the class. As always, I wrote what I wanted to say down so that I would be clear and concise. 

I began with my idea generation and how I knew that I wanted to create an advertisement, but what for? I talked about my struggles with finding a topic, but illustrated how Mike gave me several animations to look at (The Tufty Club, Joe & Petunia, Dumb Ways to Die), as well as a thesis by Kerry Drumm which I found extremely useful. The thesis concluded that animation is persuasive and effective in advertising, because it can use humour and emotion to override anything serious or graphic. This way people remember what they see and hear, so it is compelling to watch. From this, I came up with an idea to create a series of 30 second animations on road safety for drivers, not pedestrians as there is already enough content for that area, and also since I have began to drive myself, I have found that there are so many risks people take without knowing the dangers and consequences they cause. I would like to perhaps use my own experiences, or ask several people for theirs and use them to drive the narrative of my animations. I would like to use humour and good visuals to make these dangers stay in peoples minds, as the poster campaigns, I feel, are useless. I want to submit my adverts to festivals if possible.

I then showed my concept art to illustrate the aesthetic I want to go for, which is 2D and uses several angles as I need to experiment with composition more if I want to be a good animator. I then finished with my time management, saying that I would rather use a daily journal than a spreadsheet chart as this is what works for me, and what I find to be motivating. 

I was happy with what I presented and I also got some great feedback. Annabeth and Mike advised me that when I start animating or have made one 30 second animation, to contact a company that is relevant to road safety, or even a charity, as they would be more than likely to want to work with me or show my work if it is good enough. This did not cross my mind at all, but would be truly great if I was able to contact a company like that and work with them. This will become one of my big aims throughout Extended and I will really try to make this happen. Mike also advised me to pin down a topic for each animation, for example, one could be for drink driving, another for texting and driving, etc. This way I can storyboard and script write if I am going to have a narrated voice. He also said to maybe ask motorcyclists as this is another area of danger that many people don't immediately think about.

Overall despite being nervous, I am feeling motivated for this project! I am excited to start it and develop it further as I have received some great feedback and goals. Now I will begin to think of some narratives to pin down and get storyboarding! 

Extended Practice: Animation LARVA

'Animation LARVA' is an animated web series that usually consists of 3 minute videos to educate web users and also children on several topics including manners, health and road safety (to name a few). I had never heard of this series before, but upon seeing the view count of over 2 million views, I had to check it out.

The video is to promote anti-drink driving which is a great message and is the same as one of my own animations. The narrative consists of a bunch of friends who were out drinking and get into a car, not being able to control it properly. The car is about to go off a cliff but the friends jump out and end up safe, but the message is to not drink and drive.

I like that this video is short and fun, and sends out a good message to its audience. I am slightly confused as to why a childrens animation series is covering such a topic, but perhaps it can alert children of the dangers of drink driving so that they a) don't do it themselves, or b) can know if their parent is doing it and stop them.

I am mostly pleased that there is an anti-drink driving animation, as most road safety adverts are graphic or so serious that you don't want to look at them. This animation uses humour to drive its narrative which I like and will remember for a long time. The creators have not used dialogue which is interesting as it forces you to concentrate on what is happening so you can work the message out yourself which is less obvious because it isn't overly graphic. I feel like I can be inspired by the humour of this video, and since it is so popular with that view count, audiences must like it.

Extended Practice: Pinterest Board & Asethetic

Since I have decided on creating a 2D advert, I have decided to do some research on the aesthetic I want to go for. I am thinking of sticking with my graphic design-esque look as I do enjoy making this type of animation and love the colour payoff as well as drawing in Photoshop. Therefore as my last big project, I want to take what I like and push myself even further than ever before. 

But what kind of 2D graphic look do I want? This is what I started to think about, and my first choice to explore was through Pinterest. Pinterest helps me find images that look like each other but are from different medias and artists, so is great for inspiration and idea generation. 

I made a pin board with a similar aesthetic but one that I feel like I want to create work similar to. I LOVE bright colours, and what better way to catch someones eye for an advert than playing around with colour schemes. I usually don't plan my colour palettes out, I just see what fits what, but perhaps I will try this for my animations because I am really enjoying seeing cool colours together with a pop of yellow, or visa versa! 

I really liked the artwork that didn't have any black line work in them, just simple colour blocking for shadowing. I usually keep my 2D animations head on, especially for my COP3 artefacts, but I would like to explore incorporating more depth and angles as a new challenge and to strengthen my skill set as an animator. Composition is an area I forget about even though I say I am going to consider it, so this will be one of my big goals for the module and it will begin in pre-production.

Here are some examples that I want to take inspiration from:

Extended Practice: Brainstorming Topic Ideas

Now that I had a solid idea of creating a 30 second series of three animations on advertising road safety for drivers, I began to brainstorm some topics that I could illustrate and highlight within the adverts! I took into consideration the feedback from my PITCH presentation, where people said that I should highlight texting and driving as one of my main topics. I noted this down and begun thinking of various other topics such as, speeding, drinking and driving, parking in safe places, using your lights effectively, weather conditions and stopping distances, and so forth. 

The four that I really liked and felt like I could actually get a story out of, were texting and driving, drinking and driving, using your lights effectively and an animation about impaired vision when driving. Since I felt like four was too much, I have decided to link impaired vision with drinking and driving since alcohol can have an effect on how you see and react to things.

Then, because I was happy with the topics, I began to jot down potential narratives for each of the three animations. These are very rough outlines and will more refined when I get to the actual storyboarding phase, however these are the beginning treatments so far:

Animation 1) Drinking and driving: The driver is out in the city (highlighting an urban environment and night time conditions) and has been drinking with friends. He says goodbye to them and then proceeds to get into the car. He is very wobbly on his feet and his vision is a bit blurry. The driver drives okay for a while, until he can't see the road signs ahead of him as his vision is impaired. He reaches over to see the sign, moving over into the wrong lane and ends up in a collision with an oncoming car.

Animation 2) Not using lights effectively: A driver leaves his house and waves goodbye to his family (it is evening time at this point). He gets into his car and forgets to put a seatbelt on (another sub topic to highlight). He also does not put his lights on so does not have the full capacity to see what is on the road. He is driving around the town (a more rural environment this time), and decides to turn left at a junction. Because he has no lights on, he does not see the pedestrians crossing the road, and they do not see him. A collision occurs.

Animation 3) Texting and driving: Character gets into the car and is busy texting. Throughout his drive, every time he gets to a traffic light, he checks his phone and replies to the messages. Whilst driving, he is constantly distracted by the phone pinging so his concentration is not at its fullest. He becomes so distracted that he reaches for the phone and misses a red light, therefore ends up colliding into an oncoming car that is going straight. Screen cuts to black.

These are rough ideas, but I think I could animate them, and use interesting angles and compositions to highlight the dangers involved. I am excited to start planning them in more detail.

Extended Practice Research: Joe & Petunia

'Joe and Petunia' is another Public Information Office film series which Mike advised me to look at. They were created in 1968-1973, so are over forty years old! They were four in the series, and like 'Charley Says', they do not focus on one particular topic, but many. Their most famous one is 'Coastguard', the first in the series, where the couple, Joe and Petunia are enjoying their day out but finally see someone who is struggling in the water so call for help. The message is if you see someone in distress in the water, then you must call for help. The animation gives a helpline. 

Apparently the character duo was so popular at first that 'Nicolas Cartoons', creators of 'Joe and Petunia', decided to kill them off in the fourth episode of the series to avoid the pressures of public demand. They wanted people to take the messages seriously, not turn them into a franchise, something very few people turn down in todays day and age! (And is the complete opposite to 'Dumb Ways to Die who have made a huge brand out of their public service broadcasts). The couple die when they don't get their tyres checked, so this is an example of road safety, my own topic! 

It is interesting to see how popular this series was and how the artists didn't want to carry it on. I love the humour in it, which is very typically British, but I can see why so many people liked it. I think myself, I will only do around three animations, and although the look of mine will be extremely different, it will be good to look back on for inspiration and reference.

Extended Practice: Aids 1986

Mike told me to look at another advert from the British Public Broadcast, this one being to highlight Aids in 1986. Though this has nothing to do with animation, Mike said that he remembered watching it and being frightened by it, but that is what made him remember it from all those years ago.

I thought this was unique for an advert because usually to highlight something serious, companies will use adverts to emotionally blackmail you and make you feel terribly guilty so that you will donate money to them or help them in some way. However, with this advert, it is dramatic and theatrical, frightening you to read the leaflet at the end so that you know more. The advert tells you that there is something terrible happening, and there is no cure, but doesn't say what until the end. Even then, it gives no information away, you have to go and find it yourself.

This is so unique for an advert, especially today as everything is given to you immediately and rarely do you have to follow up for more information. I understand why this could be scary and memorable, but in a way that is great advertising. Because it stands out.

I would love to create something as dramatic as this, which is possible as this advert is 40 seconds long, and mine will be around 30 seconds, but it will be down to script writing and storyboarding if I choose to have a dialogue. Either way, I think this is a great example of stand out advertising.

Extended Practice Research: Charley Says

Mike advised me to look at 'Charley Says' which was made to broadcast in the 70's, through to the 80s by the 'Central Office of Information and Broadcast in the UK'. The animations are around 30-60 seconds long and highlight no specific topic, but a series of warnings for example, don't go home with strangers, don't run out into the road, etc. 

The aesthetic of 'Charley Says' is defintely not like those of today, but that is what makes it interesting. When doing my research, several journalists reviewed the animation as 'scary' perhaps because of it's unique and unorthodox appearance. The animation appears to me, to have been drawn onto paper and then cut out and moved around on the page. But even if the animation was supposedly 'scary', at least that is one way to help the messages stick into your memory!

The animation follows Charley and his cat who end up in situations where Charley inevitably gives the audience the right advice. What I liked about this animation was the narrative, because even though the appearance of the video is paper like, it feels real because the voice matches the character, a young boy. It is also nice to have two characters consistently, something I will think about when I come to storyboarding my own series. 

I love that these are a set series, it means that there are no limitations to the topics, but there is consistency in them from the characters. I would like to gear my animations towards road safety for drivers as there is already a lot of advice for pedestrians, and as a new driver, I feel like there needs to be more awareness of these things, so I could so my own series like 'Charley Says'. Overall I really found these animations interesting and will be taking some tips from them especially as this is a very well remembered public service broadcast even today! 

Extended Practice: The Tufty Club

'The Tufty Club' is a children's advertisement series in the 1950's that highlighted simple road safety. The animations followed a squirrel named 'Tufty Fluffytail' and his friends who go about their days around their street where there are several cars passing by. An example of one of the animations would be when Tufty and his friends are playing catch in the front garden, their ball rolls into the road and a car drives over it. This is to highlight to children not to run out into the road for something without an adult or something dangerous could happen.

The animation is stop motion which again, is unique for the topic choice, but is actually very clever. The animators could use real materials to create life like cars and houses so that the children watching could apply what they see into the real world as they look exactly the same.

Despite my road safety animations being for road users, not pedestrians, and of an older audience, I think that the Tufty Club was interesting to watch. I liked the realism aspect of it, and I wish there was more stop motion animation for road safety adverts! I will take the concepts into consideration and apply them to my own planning and storyboarding.

Extended Practice: Advert Brainstorming

Since talking with Mike and receiving a lot of feedback with my rationale and talking with peers, I began to brainstorm all the ideas that had been given to me, and tried to expand upon them to see where I could go from here. 

I ended up with a lot of options which sometimes feels like I have no specific route to go down, but this time it felt like I could seize many opportunities. I highlighted the ones I really liked, these being several 30 second animations, road safety adverts and perhaps using humour to promote a serious topic? I narrowed it down to these three ideas which in theory could come together as one. 

However, because I feel like the path I want to go down is getting narrower, I can now start to look at animations in my topic of interest, such as real road safety campaigns and animations! This way, I can see what is already out there and if there is a gap in the market for my work. 

Thesis: The Art of Persuasion by Kerry Dumm

After speaking with Mike and telling him my struggles with deciding on a topic for my Extended Practice Module, he gave me a list of adverts to think about as well as this thesis by Kerry Drumm at Loughborough University. 

The thesis is titled: 'The art of persuasion: a critical survey of British animation information films (1939-2998)'. The overall consensus of this project, was that animation can be persuasive and effective in advertising, because it can highlight key themes and topics without being too graphic or serious. In fact, it is humour that can be used to lighten the tone of an advert, so that they can still promote a product, but simultaneously be enjoyable and entertaining. This way, the viewer is able to feel comfortable watching the animation, as opposed to some adverts which can make you feel guilty and accountable, for example those adverts who raise awareness about starvation and poverty. 

This thesis has really helped me with my project as it has reminded me that animation can be used to demonstrate and highlight a topic in a less common and unique way. I can take any topic I want and either use visuals or humour to make it more appealing. I would love to do both, as well as raise awareness of something, and at the minute I am leaning towards road safety as I am currently just starting to drive myself! However, I am so glad that Mike introduced this to me, as I now feel more confident going through with creating an advert for my final major project! 

Extended Practice Research: Dumb Ways to Die

'Dumb Ways to Die' is a brand created by Advertising Australian Agency, 'McCann Melbourne' in 2012. It started off as a simple public service campaign for Metro Trains in Australia, to highlight the hazards, dangers and ways to be safe when using trains. What once started off as a simple video with catchy music and a little narrative where characters die in humorous but 'dumb' ways, 'Dumb Ways to Die' has become a huge brand that is well established all over the world.

McCann Melbourne have taken one simple video and turned it into something much bigger. Using social media platforms, the agency plastered the slogan everywhere, and even took the opportunity to turn it into a game in the App store. Not only does this spread the message even further to new audiences and backgrounds, but it gets people involved in the theme of train safety which is beneficial all round.

This is the original video which I remember coming across when I was in Sixth Form. I watched the whole thing and then was very surprised to find that it was for train safety, and I remember all of my friends thinking the same thing! However I think that this is quite clever because perhaps if you knew what it was for in the beginning, you wouldn't watch it all the way through as it is not a very exciting topic.

Besides the song being extremely catchy, the animation itself is simple but so well done. There isn't really any composition for each scene as there are rarely any backgrounds but the animation that does happen is so fluid and smooth. The actions look realistic and effortless which is something that I want to try and improve in my own work as well as carefully considering composition.

I really enjoyed the colours in this animation too as they are vivid but not too loud. They all go together nicely, but will use a key colours (for example red for blood) to make their actions stand out. I know that I often go a bit too much with colour, so it is nice to see how you can use them to emphasis and balance out certain elements in a scene.

Now you can even buy the characters from the animations, or stationary and homeware with the message and characters across each item. McCann Melbourne have really thought of everything to broaden their franchise which is great as it is still very popular nearly five years later!

I want to take a lot of influence from this pubic service announcement because it is an example of advertising done right. I hope to think of colour in the same way they have done, to emphasise and enhance, instead of just to simple be there. I want to make my animations smoother so you can focus on the action and hopefully, I can make a series of my own animations on sub topics so that they can become their own small brand in themselves! 

Extended Practice: Rationale Feedback 24/11/2016

Today Mike gave me feedback on my rationale and thoughts for Extended Practice which has made me feel less worried about the project, and more excited to have a go at it. He liked the idea of me creating an advert and making something in a 2D, graphic design feel as this is something that I have experience with and enjoy doing. I have always loved advertising so I am happy that Mike thinks it is a good idea.

He mentioned that my approach is perfect, but I need to think about what it is about, who the audience is? How long it is going to be? Is it going to be a set of 30 second animations with a consistent character throughout? Or will it be one long 1-2 minute animated advert? I really liked the idea of multiple animations of high quality, or a longer animation that makes you feel something. This is something I am going to have to decided on fully over the next few days, as I have to prepare for our presentation which is two weeks today.

Mike gave me several suggestions of 2D animations to look at, such as:

• Dumb Ways to Die (whole campaign across media, apps, etc).
• Charley Says
• Joe and Petunia
• The Tufty Club
• Information Broadcast - Aids 1980s.
• Any other British Public Broadcast Advert

I will look over these in the next few days for motivation and inspiration on helping me choose my topic of choice and audience! 

OUAN603: Rationale

1) Blog Address

Where are you documenting the development of Extended Practice online?

http://c-byrne254065-sp.blogspot.co.uk/

2) Subjects and Themes

Broadly speaking what are you interested in exploring and why?

I am interested in animation to advertise which I have looked at in depth all of last year in my PPP2 module. This has only solidified my interest in it, and therefore I would finally like to create my own animated advert which uses storytelling and emotion, methods which have proven to be successful after extensive research in my dissertation and COP3 practical artefacts. I have found that animated adverts that are heartwarming and moving have compelled me the most, and have stuck with for a long time, which is why I would like to have a go at creating something similar. I want my advert to highlight a topic that is serious and affects a lot of people, for example bullying, loneliness, poverty, but I also want the overall message to be positive, and encouraging, like that of John Lewis. 

3) Rationale

What you want to do during this module? Be as specific as you can at this moment in time. If you plan on working on multiple briefs to demonstrate your practice, identify clearly each brief.

I plan to create an animated advert that is up to two minutes long and uses storytelling with emotion to drive the creative outcome. As I have conducted a lot of research for PPP2 about animated adverts as my main area of interest in the professional industry all of last year, even gaining work experience at a company who create animated shorts for the television, I would now like to have a go at creating my own. I am always fascinated at how creatives can use storytelling and emotion to sell a product/raise awareness on a topic, and I would really like to try and do this myself.

I would like my audience to be for a family, not a niche audience, as the most successful adverts I have found, are relatable to many ages and identities and bring everyone together. I would also like to submit my advert to a festival as this will be a new experience and challenge for me. Festivals I am considering are Aesthetica and Manchester Animation Festival, as after looking into the classifications, advertising is one of their categories of submission. Ideally, I would like my animation to be for television, or other common places where adverts are shown such as, at the cinema, Youtube, or other social media platforms. I want to think about the advert across many platforms, perhaps even as far as a campaign, so that it is more believable and marketable. 

As for the topic of my advert/what I want to advertise, I would like it to be heartwarming and use a current topic as the subject matter. This could be political, a recent event, charity/something to raise awareness on, etc. Animated adverts that will undoubtedly influence my concept will be that of 'John Lewis', and other powerful adverts such as 'Freeview Play (Set Yourself Free)'. As of now, I aim to create my animation in 2D as I most comfortable with this medium, and enjoy the overall result of a 2D aesthetic. This way, I can be ambitious, but not overly so.

 4) Explain how this will be developing your Specialist Practice?

By creating my own animated advert, I will be exploring a part of the industry that I have been interested in for so long, but have yet to experiment with. I will be able to understand the process and development from start to finish in making an animated advert, preparing me for future work after university. I will be able include my finished product within my final showreel, illustrating to future employers that I have applied some of my academic knowledge into a practice that I want to work in, and that I am serious about my profession. This brief will also challenge me to think realistically about my work, as advertising is very much a part of everyday mainstream media, and is more available to a general audience, than that of an animated film or educational animation. I would hopefully like to get a lot of primary research out of this module, therefore communicating with professionals would be extremely useful and develop my understanding of the topic of advertising even more. Lastly, this brief will allow me to experience submitting a piece of work into a festival! 

5) Resources and Workshops

What do you need and by When?

N/A

6) Will you be working on a group project or brief? 

( If YES explain )

 No.

7) Are there any stakeholders in your project?

If YES, explain who they are and what their responsibilities are? - This is essential if you've got a Live Brief from a client

No.

8) What, where and when do you need to research. 

Begin to identify and artists, practitioners, companies or organisations that you will need to talk to. This could include getting to speak to people at conferences, events and other organisations. 

I will need to contact as many people in the advertising industry as possible, not just animation companies, but professionals who have experience in the field who can advise me in what to expect and the challenges to face. I will also need to do some visits, for example, Leeds Visual Media Conference, as they cover advertising in great detail, spoken by a combination of creatives and business men/women. This will give me more knowledge and understanding of my brief and encouragement to make it successful. Manchester Animation Festival will also be extremely useful for my brief, as there are several chances to talk to practitioners, as well as see work from a variety of artists which will inspire and motivate me for this brief. I will also have to research into deadlines and requirements for my chosen festival submissions.

9) Please identify at least 6 books, periodicals, websites or other media that may be informing your rationale. Please use Harvard referencing. 

• - Hill, D. 2010. 'About Face: The Secrets of Emotionally Effective Advertising'. Kogan Page, London.
• - Miller, C. 2016. 'The Dangerous Power of Emotional Advertising'. Web. Available at: 'https://contently.com/strategist/2016/04/14/dangerous-power-emotional-advertising/' (Accessed November 2016).
• - Zipes, J. (2012). 'The Irresistible Fairytale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre'. New Jersey. Princeton University Press.
• - The Marketing Agency. 2013. 'Marketing Excellence: John Lewis - The Enduring Power of Emotions'. Web. Available at: 'https://www.marketingsociety.com/sites/default/files/6288%20MS%20case%20studies%20John%20Lewis_v6.pdf'. (Accessed November, 2016). 
• - Buchan, S. 2013. 'Persuasive Animation'. Routledge, New York.
• - Dizon, L. 2012. '6 Reasons to use Animation as Advertising'. Web. Available at: http://inspirationfeed.com/articles/business/6-reasons-to-use-animation-as-advertising/'. (Accessed November 2016). 

OUAN603: Rationale Research

Since I know that I am going to create an advert for my Extended Practice project, I decided to have a look at the different types of adverts that have been successful (both animated and not), what their topic choice was and what effects the advert has had on its audience, for some inspiration on how to execute my own.

I started with doing a Google Search for the UK's most memorable adverts, to see what the diversity was, and if there were any that stood out to me.

1) IRN-BRU's 'The Snowman' (2007)

The first one I chose to look at was 'IRN-BRU's 'The Snowman', which is obviously very familiar to everyone in the UK. The advert that appeared first in 2007, uses the same iconic song and animation as the actual 1982 'The Snowman' Film. With a quick change of some lyrics and an introduction to a can of Irn-Bru, which supposedly fuels the characters to fly, this advert uses nostalgia and sentiment to sell its product. There really isn't too much of an emotional impact here, but it is still very memorable, and people would probably go ahead and buy Irn-Bru because it is associated with an icon film.

2) Coca Cola 'Holidays Are Coming' 

Perhaps THE most iconic advert of all time, especially as it makes its reappearance every holiday season. Maybe this is why it is so successful? Because it plays every year? Or it could be the catchy music and Christmas feeling it brings. Similarly to before, this advert is trying to sell a popular drink, but this time it does so without having much of a narrative. Instead, it uses a song and LED glowing trucks to catch the audiences attention. Obviously it works because it is still played at Christmas over 20 years later.

3) 'On Your Child's Life' // Fire Kills Campaign

A much more serious advert this time, is one from the Fire Kills Campaign. This animation was voted to be in the top ten most effective British adverts of all time and I can see why. Unlike the previous two, there is no song, no fancy graphics or nostalgia, but instead there is a monologue spoken by a young child who is begging parents in the audience to promise to check their smoke alarms. The monologue is naturally heartbreaking because it is spoken by a young child who is assumed to have been himself, killed in a fire. A huge contrast to many upbeat adverts, this one captures your attention because of the silence and the serious topic. I think this is SO effective, I had to watch the whole thing it was done so well. I would like to create an advert possibly on a serious topic too, as I think they make more of an impact.

4) 'Save the Boy' by St. John Ambulance.

Another extremely effective and successful advert, would be this one by St. John's Ambulance. Again, this one takes on a serious topic, and despite it being live action, as I think that it could equally be as effective in animation, the narrative, in my opinion, is very unlike anything I have ever seen. The advert has two perspectives, a woman and a man. The woman is seen looking out the window, and outside the man is playing with his child. His phone rings and once he looks away, the young boy is off climbing a tree. It is quite obvious what is about to happen as the father is not paying attention to his child, but with the cut backs to the woman, you think that she would be able to see it as well, as she is clearly looking out of the back window. However once the child falls, the father panics and the woman rushes outside. Except she is rushing to bring her washing in from the rain, as she is completely separate to the father and son scenario, it is just the editing that has made us think that, as well as the voice over. I have never seen anything like this before where you think one thing but it is actually another, for such a frightening and scary topic. I think this advert is well executed and is defintely another memorable one.

These are just some UK adverts that I have looked at to get an idea of some of the things I could produce, but there is just so much to choose from, therefore I will have to ask for advice and get some feedback in my rationale.

OUAN603: Thinking About the Rationale ...

Before completing my rationale form, I began to research and think a lot about what I want to do for Extended Practice. Initially, I wanted to expand on educational animation, which is what I had been producing for COP3, as I very much enjoyed learning about animation with the purpose to teach audiences something valuable, and I am also loving creating my practical element for COP for the first time. I have gained so much out of COP3 already, and have communicated with so many people from the industry, even though it is only November, however, educational animation is a topic I explored due to my own curiosity and interest at making education easier and more accessible for children who struggle with typical learning methods. Now when I think about post university, I wouldn't mind going into a job where I create educational animation, but I have already learnt a lot from COP, so I would like to start in depth research and communication with professionals in another area of animation. I have always been fascinated by advertising, in particular animated adverts and I studied this all of last year for PPP2, and even got some work experience at a company who create adverts and work on the post production of them. So since Extended is a chance for us to create something we choose ourselves, I have decided I am going to make my own advert, after admiring them for so long! 

Extended Practice aims:

• Explore educational animation more
• Learn more about advertising and all the different areas
• Do more audience testing to a real audience
• Get more feedback consistently
• Continue to be organised
• Spend more time on preproduction, will be good for end of year exhibition
• Don't take constructive criticism negatively
• Try something new. New programme, new style?
• Make something worthwhile for portfolio

Applied 2: Evaluation

Applied 2 has been such a great module for me, as I was able to spend a long time learning and experimenting with a new technique that I have always wanted to investigate. Because this was so new to me, it was also great being able to work with someone else who had an interest in this technique, as we were both willing to put more effort into the production outside of regular uni hours. I feel like I have learnt an abundance of skills throughout these past few months, and I have honestly really enjoyed this area of animation which is completely out of my comfort zone. As someone who likes to work outside of the classroom as well as inside, this module pushed me to use more of the college’s resources and also communicate with my teachers more, so that I could reach the best of my ability.

Despite having already worked with Hayley in our OUAN504 module, it felt like I was working with someone new because the whole process and technique that we were using was foreign to us. Because of this, we had to constantly communicate, share ideas and methods in how we were going to approach our work, so that we could find a happy medium that would allow us to produce good results. I felt like we were never that badly behind in our work, and we stayed on schedule, which left us a lot of time to comfortably work on post production and the final touches. I also feel like I am more comfortable working in a team now, because I have more experience handling duties and pressures.

I found that pre-production was my least favourite part of the module, which has made me realise that this is perhaps not an aspect of animation that I should go down in my future career to focus on, as I didn’t enjoy it that much. This could be due to the amount of times Hayley and I had to re-record our audio and write the script, which in the end did benefit us, but at the time was very frustrating and made me worry a lot on how our animation as a whole would turn out. The only part of pre-production that I enjoyed was creating the models and the mouth shapes. Again, I was so worried to start this process, as I felt like I would completely ruin the image Hayley had set up for the project. Since i’ve never modelled a character before, I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, but I carried on, and in the end I loved how my characters turned out and I was so proud of what I had achieved! Then once I begun to animate them, as they came to life I was even more surprised and began to feel more confident in myself.

Therefore the actual animating part of this project was by far the best stage for me. I loved moving the characters and seeing them become like real life animals. I had to look at reference videos, as well as act out simple, subtle actions so that I could reflect that into the character. There was so much caution and planning when animating them, but this was fun for me, because it was so technical and intricate. What did surprise me the most about this module however, was how much I enjoyed directing. Though I am assertive outside of uni, I have never been so when at school or college, so naturally, I was not at uni either. I always felt wrong to ‘boss’ people around, however when it was Hayley’s turn to animate, it felt so natural to direct which way the model’s eyes should turn, or which way the hand should go, that I didn’t even realise I was directing until she told me! I loved being particular about each frame because I felt like it would make all the difference, and I wasn’t afraid to keep telling her if something didn’t look right. I am not sure if I would ever venture out to be a director, but I did surprise myself, and I think it has allowed me to grow and not be afraid to tell someone how something should go if I don’t think it fits!

This project has also allowed me to explore post-production, which I have done briefly in every module, but not to this degree. Within Applied 2, I had to fix lighting, stabilise frames, adjust formats and do various bits of cleaning up, which was not as stressful as I thought it was going to be. Because Hayley and I had finished our animation around a week before the deadline, instead of rushing to tweak the animation, we could take our time. This meant I was able to learn how to stabilise a shaky animation properly, as well as how to fix flickering lighting, which was quite time consuming. I feel like these are really beneficial, not even for just animation but for any type of video making, so I think I will be able to make good use of these for years to come! Not once in this project was I not learning something new, which I find very fulfilling to say! 

Overall, though Applied 2 was scary and not very enjoyable to start with, it ended up being the module where I really jumped out of my comfort zone and took a big risk with a new technique that could have gone horribly wrong. I really didn’t know what I was doing to start with, and I always felt like I was going to let Hayley down, but looking back I have developed so much and feel silly for even thinking that! I hope I can do this technique next year at some point because it was so much more enjoyable that simply sitting in front of a computer for hours. I was able to use new resources, physically make things and see small models come to life! OUAN505 has been a really great module for me, and I am so proud with what I have achieved!